


Against the World

by omgbellamy



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game), Life Is Strange Before the Storm
Genre: Angst, Arcadia Bay, Before The Storm, Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Falling In Love, Flashbacks, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Multiship, NOT a love triangle, Reflection, Sad, Spoilers, amberprice, chloeandrachel, honestly i forgot about the logistics of this lol, kinda like a fic of both ships???, pricefield, pricefield endgame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 08:28:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13119948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/omgbellamy/pseuds/omgbellamy
Summary: Chloe tells Rachel about Max. Chloe tells Max about Rachel.





	Against the World

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! This is my first fic in so long! I've been so uninspired, but after LIS Before the Storm I became inspired. It was so sad, even though we knew the outcome of the story. I wrote this since I'm amberprice trash but I also still love pricefield!
> 
> Enjoy!

_She remembered telling Rachel about Max. It was the summer after their sophomore year, before Chloe had been kicked out._

_“So you had another best friend?” Rachel asked._

_“I did,” Chloe said. She played with the bracelet on her wrist. It was Rachel’s. She’d given it to her after Chloe had told her about her mom. She was broken, but she managed to keep herself strong. ‘Just until I’m eighteen,’ she’d say, ‘Then I’m getting the fuck out of here’._

_It was their big plan. Rachel told Chloe she dreamed of living out in LA as an actress. She thought there was something tragically artistic about being a struggling actress out in the big city. Chloe had other ideas. She just wanted to get away. With David becoming closer to being her dad’s replacement, she didn’t want to stick around. She tolerated him for her mom, but she didn’t want to see him become her stepdad. She’d told Rachel that enough, that they’d go anyway, and she’d follow. As long as she had Rachel and maybe some weed._

_“Yeah. Max. She left three years ago. She left, kind of without a word. We haven’t talked much in two years. We messaged for a while: Skyped, texted and emailed…but she let it go. She got more distant and stopped putting in effort…and, well…things haven’t been the same since then. She’s been pretty shitty, if you ask me.”_

_Rachel tutted, putting an arm around Chloe to comfort her.. Chloe was used to Rachel’s affections by now. At first it felt foreign and unbelievable. But now it felt…normal. She didn’t know what she and Rachel were. They’d only been – together? – for a few months, and Chloe didn’t want to push for a label.  She knew for certain they were both more than friends and that they both liked and even loved each other. There were rumours swirling around Arcadia Bay about them. Victoria taunted her about it, calling her ‘Rachel Amber’s Bitch’. Chloe told her to shut the fuck up and that she had no room to talk considering she kissed Rachel’s ass for years._

_Rachel agreed, and told Chloe she was a badass that day._

_“Why did she leave?”_

_Chloe scoffed. “Why didn’t she is the question. Arcadia Bay is a hick town. There’s nothing here that’s inspiring or offering opportunities to people our age. Max was an artsy freak – I mean that in the nicest way. She’s like you: destined for the big city life. She was inspiring, like that. A smart person destined for greater things, for better people. It hurt like a bitch when she left – when she left me-, but I can’t say I don’t get why she did.”_

_Rachel smiled, her eyes shining. Chloe loved it when Rachel was happy. It was rarer these days that she smiled. That spark in her eyes had dimmed since she no longer had the unconditional love of her perfect father, and her mother was broken and her real mother…. nowhere to be found._

_“Her loss,” Rachel said, “Who wouldn’t want to be anywhere without you?”_

_“Her, apparently,” Chloe sighed._

_She didn’t think of Max much these days. Rachel had kind of taken her place and the absence she felt of Max grew smaller every day. Rachel grounded Chloe, motivated her and made her happier than she’d been in years. After her father she felt broken. Like nothing mattered and that she had no reason to care about anything. Rachel’s spark, Rachel’s magic and Rachel’s love made her feel alive again._

_Of course, she still did. Even Rachel’s presence couldn’t stop that. She’d find the odd time in her room where she’d listen to one of her old CDs, find old pictures or movies that reminded her of all the things she and Max did. Even her mom would occasionally ask how she was and Chloe would continuously remind her they didn’t talk anymore. It was a given Chloe would always miss her, but she had Rachel now and Rachel was who she wanted and needed._

_Rachel grabbed Chloe’s face, making her look at her. Like that, Chloe forgot all about her sadness and focused on the depths of Rachel’s green eyes._

_“Well,” she said, “If it’s any conciliation, I’m not leaving you. Ever.”_

_Chloe knew then she loved her._

_“It doesn’t matter,” Chloe said, trying a smile, “I have you now. That’s what I need.”_

_“And I have you,” Rachel repeated, kissing her cheek.._

_Yeah, she fucking loved this girl._

_******_

“So Rachel knew about me?”  Max asked, surprised.

Chloe rolled her eyes. “Of course she did. You were – are – my best friend.”

“I’m glad I still hold the title. I hope she didn’t hate me.”

Chloe bumped her shoulder against Max’s. “You do. My best friend with badass time travel powers. Plus, she didn’t hate you and she never would”

Max flopped back onto the bed. “Don’t. It’s tiring as it is.”

“Hey. We have all the time, remember?” Chloe mirrored Max’s moves. “It’s you and me against Arcadia.”

“I know. I just…tell me, what was she like?”

“Rachel?” Chloe, asked. She was surprised Max had asked, let alone wanted to know.

“She was everything,” she began, “She was bright, alive, happy, carefree and imaginative. She mad me feel so much, she was that powerful. She was vibrant and she loved life, she loved Firewalk, too. That’s where we first properly spoke. She saved me from Damon and his dickwads.”

“She sounded like a badass.”

“She was. I think she would’ve liked you. You’re both so different, yet so alike at the same time.”

“I know I would’ve liked her. She deserved better.”

Chloe sighed heavily, staring at the photo on her bedside table of she and Rachel in the photo booth, one of their last moments together.

“Damn right she did,” Chloe agreed.

The town was empty after the storm. Everyone they loved was dead. Max’s parents, thank God, had stayed in Seattle. Yet, with the destruction that surrounded them, they couldn’t find it in them to leave.

Once upon a time, Chloe had been dying to leave Arcadia Bay. The town was plagued with bad memories for her. But now…she felt like they had to. She felt she owed it to the people of Arcadia. To her mom, to Frank, to Kate, Nathan, Rachel, Mikey, hell, even David. She owed it to them to keep the memory of their broken town alive.

She knew she and Max would leave soon. But for now, it was too soon. The storm had destroyed most of what they had and their provisions available. They agreed they’d drive away once everything was done. Now it was an empty black hole, waiting to take them with it.

“Too much time,” Max sighed. She was tense; Chloe could tell. Max felt an intense guilt for not being able to sacrifice her. Chloe tried to ease it, telling her that she’d have made the same decision, that they couldn’t live without each other and after all the loss she’d been through, she wouldn’t lose her best friend.

“We’ll leave soon,” Chloe promised, “We’ll go to Seattle, if you want. Visit your parents.”

Max tensed. “I’m not sure if that’s the best idea.”

“Why?”

“I can’t explain this to my parents, Chloe. They won’t understand. They’ll think I’m crazy or something.”

“Max, you are crazy! And they won’t. We’ll cross that fucking bridge when we come to it. It’s Max and Chloe against the world!”

“You promise?” Max asked, turning to look at Chloe. Chloe blinked. Max looked so scared and unsure. It reminded Chloe much of Rachel’s eyes when she’d seen Damon stab her. She looked haunted.

Sensing it, Chloe put her hand over Max’s reassuringly. “Pinkie.” She linked her pinkie with Max’s, who looked down sheepishly.

“You’re such a dork.”

Chloe smiled. She should’ve felt heavy with questions and guilt. She did, but there was a lightness she found in Max. The past two weeks felt like home again. Before her father had past when all was right in the world. It felt even if things had come crumbling down and around them, that they had each other. And always would.

She hated to compare, but it felt different than with Rachel. With Rachel, there was the promise of forever. A promise of an epic adventure of two teenagers with romantic ideas about the world. Now three years on, Chloe knew better than that. There was nothing to romanticise about this world they lived in. They’d always been a plague for destruction, but now she and Max shared that. They’d utilised Max’s power to try and create some balance in the world, only managing to upset it. But Chloe was here, and she was alive, thanks to Max.

Max had saved her life after Rachel, and Rachel had saved her life after Max.

“I am a dork,” Chloe said, smiling at her best friend who she was reminded was still here, “But you love it.”

“Yeah,” Max said, returning the bright smile, “I do.”


End file.
